With a CX100 and Raynox 3030, I get sharp results with the manual focus between 1.4m - 1.8m. Autofocus is sometimes problematic when panning across blue sky, so I find manual a better bet overall.

I agree. This is the setting I use for freefall. I set it back to auto focus for ground and plane shots. Auto focus can ruin ff footage if you get drops on your lens, or if you have dust/crud on your front element and the Sunlight hitting the same (i.e., flying into the Sun on exit). The camera will try to focus on the drops or the crud, and you will get unusable footage. Plus sometimes auto focus can hunt if you aren't really close and/or centered.

With a CX100 and Raynox 3030, I get sharp results with the manual focus between 1.4m - 1.8m. Autofocus is sometimes problematic when panning across blue sky, so I find manual a better bet overall.

I agree. This is the setting I use for freefall. I set it back to auto focus for ground and plane shots. Auto focus can ruin ff footage if you get drops on your lens, or if you have dust/crud on your front element and the Sunlight hitting the same (i.e., flying into the Sun on exit). The camera will try to focus on the drops or the crud, and you will get unusable footage. Plus sometimes auto focus can hunt if you aren't really close and/or centered.

I've heard others mention these types of problems. My experience with thousands of jumps using autofocus indicates otherwise, so I'm not sure what the difference is. I've seen a couple videos where some crud landed on the lens and threw off the focus, but I've never personally had that problem. Even when jumping in the rain the focus point stays true. I do keep my glass spotless and clean it between every jump, so that might have an impact, but who knows.

You will get burned by auto focus eventually. Best to just use manual. There are good reasons why that is the way its done by most everyone.

I'll stick with what has worked flawlessly for thousands of jumps. Sometimes people hold on to old notions even after technology advances to a point where the old notion is no longer relevant. I'm not saying that's necessarily the case here, but it does happen.

For example, people I work with insist that manual focus and aperture priority mode are the only settings that will work for freefall photos. I use autofocus and either manual or shutter priority and get great results. My pictures are sharper when compared to others which are slightly out of focus due to manual focus or blurred due to a slow shutter speed. Not a huge deal, but it makes a difference. The same can be said for video in some circumstances regarding the focus.

What I find that works for me is on the ground I set it to autofocus and focus on a subject about 4-6ft away. Then I go in and change it to manual focus to "lock in" that setting. My videos look great and I don't get the occasional auto focus mishap in freefall.

If you only do Tandem videos and the subject is always in the center of the frame you may never see an issue with auto focus. But I have often seen issues with auto focus used in freeflying where if the subjects go out of frame or the camera can't decide what to focus on everything goes blurry.

I video student jumps, freefly, belly formations, different miscellaneous fun jumps, etc. Focus has never been an issue. Perhaps newer technology isn't a factor in this case. I don't know. Frankly it really doesn't matter and I don't much care. I'm not going to change the way I do things and I don't expect anyone else to change the way they do things. But my own experience is proof enough to me that at least in some cases this reliance on manual focus is somewhat misplaced and newer camera flyers should understand that sometimes there are more ways to do things than simply what everyone's always done because that's the way it's always been done.

The scenarios that I have seen issues with auto focus are if moving from the subject to clear sky and back when the subject is just on the edge of the frame. The auto focus can't tell what to focus on and everything is blurry while it's trying to find something to focus on. If you are very diligent in keeping the subject centered you may never see it hunt for an item to focus on. I don't do much video any more so I would have to look pretty hard to find an example.

Can I ask what you think you are gaining by using auto focus on your video camera?

Also are you using the opteka .3? Lenses that do not focus when set to infinity have a very narrow range in the cameras overall focus range. Because of this camera is less likely to freak out when auto focus is used. But it can and does still happen.

Use what ever you want, and im glad it works for you. But i am curious why you seem so adamant against something that have a list of benefits and no downside.

Can I ask what you think you are gaining by using auto focus on your video camera? ...

Also are you using the opteka .3? Lenses that do not focus when set to infinity have a very narrow range in the cameras overall focus range. Because of this camera is less likely to freak out when auto focus is used. But it can and does still happen.

Use what ever you want, and im glad it works for you. But i am curious why you seem so adamant against something that have a list of benefits and no downside.

I've used the opteka .3 (or maybe century .3, can't remember which - the more expensive one) but it isn't my regular lens. I use a Raynox .3 90% of the time. What I gain is video that is always in focus regardless of where the subject is and I guess one less setting to worry about at the start of the day. So I avoid the downsides of manual focus and I see no downside for autofocus.

I have used the Raynox .3 a lot and nearly always set the focus to manual and infinity. With those settings it was never out of focus. The only times it ever lost focus was when set to auto focus and the subject wasn't centered in the frame.

Theoretically there is only one focus point, and any object closer or farther than that point is some amount out of focus. In practice the difference may be negligible and not readily noticeable if at all, especially with a wide depth of field. In my mind close isn't good enough if I can be more precise than that. I have seen noticeably out-of-focus video captured with manually focused cameras.

But I'm glad and it's good that that works for you.

I think the takeaway here is that sometimes things can be done in more than just one way and I hope newer camera jumpers keep that in mind.

I am surprised you don't experience the same issue with auto focus. What camera are you using? You don't ever see your camera searching for something to focus on when you look away from the subject, either at the ground or sky?

The auto focus can't tell what to focus on and everything is blurry while it's trying to find something to focus on.

We used to call it "seeking" and I'm not sure what the current term is. There can be 3 (or more) possible points of focus that can be available in different combinations at any given time. The camera can have trouble figuring out which one is correct (your subjects, the ground, the sky).

I have seen it on modern cameras recently, but have not tried it on my own. I use the spot focus setting at the beginning of each jump day. I may test out auto focus this weekend on some fun jumps to see how it works.